


The Talent Stones

by mandykaysfic



Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2019 [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Coming of Age, Gen, Teenagers, special talent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22029553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandykaysfic/pseuds/mandykaysfic
Summary: In Evan Lorne's community, everyone gets a talent when they turn thirteen. Under supervision of the Guardians, they choose a Talent Stone. Evan's turn to choose doesn't quite go as expected.
Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1585699
Kudos: 9





	The Talent Stones

Evan wiped his sweaty palms along the sides of his new pants. He shot a quick look around at the others, hoping none of them had noticed.

"Look at that! Evan's scared!" One of the boys laughed and pointed. "Want some cheese, mouse?"

"No, no I'm not," he protested. "I don't want any cheese either. It's really warm in here. I wish there was a fan or something." The eight who had turned thirteen that year were in the Anteroom of the Guardians.

"Shut up, Roman,"ordered Berta. A full head taller than Roman, she stared down at him, her grey eyes hardening to flint. She flicked her blonde plait back over her shoulder. "With an attitude like that, Master Eldridge will make sure you get a talent that improves your character. Something like an irresistible urge to wash dirty dishes, perhaps?"

"Not likely. I've been practising visualisation, just like Master Allman's been showing us. I'll get the 'always available car park', you'll see."

Berta gave a disbelieving snort and turned to Evan. "What talent are you hoping for?"

Evan shook his head. "Whatever Master Eldridge selects will be okay, but I wouldn't mind something to do with art. You know, always knowing the best color combinations, or the best angle to paint. What about you?"

"I'd be really happy with good co-ordination."

"You don't need that as a talent. You'll be fine once you stop growing," said Evan reassuringly.

"But I really want to make the basketball team this year, and I won't when I keep tripping over my own feet, or dropping the ball," confided Berta softly, after checking Roman was too busy boasting to Jennice and Laurel about parking the car he would one day have in all the best spots, and offering to take them to the lake or shopping or the movies.

The great wooden door at the end of the eastern room creaked open. Master Allman, garbed in the formal robes worn on special occasions instead of the jeans and sweater they were used to, directed them to line up in age order, oldest to youngest.

Their birth months were no secret to one another; their community made much of a child's thirteenth birthday. Jennice took her place at the head of the line, followed by Darwin, with Berta in third place. Roman was sixth. Evan stood behind him, glad that Roman couldn't see him wipe his hands down his pants again. He was conscious of Mikey bouncing on his toes as he brought up the rear.

"Parking place, parking place," murmured Mikey, too softly for Roman to hear. Evan shook his head. He supposed it was lucky he didn't want the perfect parking place talent, although it would be a joke if that's what he got. Roman and Mikey would be so jealous.

"Jennice, Master Eldridge will see you now."

Evan craned his neck around Roman and the others to watch Jennice go through the doors. He hugged himself as he silently wished for Jennice's new talent to be something special.

Several minutes later, she returned to the Anteroom, beaming all over her face. A pretty yellow stone shone from inside the silver cage suspended from a necklace, the most common way new teens displayed their talent stone. Evan had been gifted a bracelet by his grandfather. Nervously he fingered the strands of metal that formed the cage for his stone.

"I'm so happy. You've no idea what this means to me." Jennice touched a finger to the pendant at her neck. "From now, my clothes shall always fit perfectly. Whether I buy them, or make them myself, they will be exactly right." She shook hands with everyone as the ritual demanded, walking slowly along the line to allow everyone a glimpse of her talent stone. She'd never voiced her desire for a career in modelling, believing her family would disapprove, but, she believed, this would change everything.

Darwin was summoned for his turn. In contrast to Jennice's happy smile, Duncan looked perplexed. He wasn't sure how an ability to determine whether a line was perfectly straight simply by looking at it was such a wonderful talent, but Master Eldridge had assured him all would become clear in time. The black stone gleamed dully in its golden cage at his neck.

Berta bumped into the door as she entered. She turned and looked ruefully at Evan as she rubbed her head.

He shook his head sympathetically in response and gave her a hopeful 'thumbs up'.

"She'll end up with a rock finding talent, you'll see. She'll just keep on tripping over them."

"Oh, shut up, Roman." Evan couldn't help himself.

"Yes, do be quiet. We're not interested in your opinion," added Alish, half turning to face Roman. "Let us think about the Talent Stone Ceremony in peace and quiet. It's not a joke for the rest of us."

Roman muttered something succinct and most likely rude under his breath, but said no more aloud.

Tears ran down Berta's face as she shook hands with everyone; Jennice and Darwin had joined on the end of the queue, as would each person in turn, thereby allowing the participation in the full ritual for all. She looked almost regal, tears notwithstanding, as she walked gracefully to stand behind Darwin. It was obvious her new talent had eliminated her clumsiness. Evan's smile of acknowledgement was bright and he shook her hand firmly, noting the emerald green of her stone matched the color of her eyes.

"How does he do it? How does Master Eldridge make sure you choose the best stone?" wondered Laurel. She held out her left hand for the others to shake as she dreamily made her way to the towards the door at the other end of the room.

Berta pulled her back in to line. "Obviously something to do with books or reading," she said as she examined the pretty mauve, purple and silver striped stone that Laurel now wore. "C'mon, Laurel. Put us out of our misery."

"I'll never lose my place in a book, or need a bookmark ever again. I'll always open a book to the page that I'm up to, no matter which of the dozen or so books I have on the go at any time." She reached into a pocket and drew out a slim paperback. She flipped it open, read the first few lines at the top of the page and let out a small scream. "Oh, that's exactly where I was up to!" Ignoring the others, she stood and read, trusting Berta would keep an eye on her and make sure she joined in the rest of the ceremony.

"Laurel would only ever want a lift to the book store," said Mikey. He'd be happy to drive her there in a few years time. "Parking place, parking place," he murmured a few more times. Roman wan't the only one who'd been practising Master Allman's visualization techniques.

Alish's talent stone looked completely different to the others. She held out an inky blue wand almost and inch and a half in length for the others to see. "I'll have it made into an earring," she decided, holding it up to her ear, after demonstrating it wouldn't fit into the gold cage pendant that she'd worn in anticipation.

"He said my 'ink would never run'," mimicking the solemn tones of Master Eldridge. "I guess I'll have to wait a while to see what that means." She held her stone up to her eyes and stared at it. 

Evan looked on enviously as Alish began tossing her stone into the air and catching it. It had to be art related. What he could draw with ink that never ran out...he sighed and turned back to gaze at the carvings on the big wooden door. 

Roman came out scowling. That set Mikey off bouncing on his toes again; the perfect parking talent stone was obviously still available. Roman's handshakes were brief, barely making contact with anyone's palm. 

The others were still teasing him when Evan was summoned. "Don't forget to tell me what it is," he begged, before following Master Allman.

Master Eldridge greeted Evan with the traditional blessing one received on their thirteenth birthday and bade him to stand in front of the _admincogian manavice_. 

Evan stared down in to the bowl that formed the top section of the waist-high stone pillar. Crystals of all colors and shapes filled two-thirds of the bowl. How did Master Eldridge know which talent was Evan's?

"Slowly push your right hand into the Talent Stones. Move it around slowly."

Evan did as he was told. Was he supposed to feel something? Tingling, heat, a zap? The Talent Stone selection process was never discussed. Children were simply told they would find out about it in their thirteenth year, and once people had their Talent Stone, they never talked about how they got it. For all he knew, it could be different for everyone.

As he continued to stir the stones, a steel-blue oval that had worked its way to the top caught his eye. There looked to be some sort of markings around the edge. Curiosity got the better of him. He stopped moving his right hand and used his left to grab the stone before it was covered up.

Holding it with both hands, Evan felt...something...in his mind. The longer he held it, the more he became convinced the stone wanted something from him.

"It's broken," he said to Master Eldridge, who had remained silent while Evan searched through the Talent Stones. "No, it's switched off," he clarified. "How do I turn it on?"

At that moment, the stone glowed bright blue. "Oh, it's a compass! North is that way." Evan pointed unerringly to the corner of the room, rather than directly behind Master Eldridge. "Did you know this building is off its north-south alignment by...twenty-nine degrees? And do you know what this writing means? Why has my stone got writing on it? I've never heard of a Talent Stone with writing."

"Evan, Evan. I never thought I'd live to see it. Truth be told, I never truly believed it."

"Eldridge! Is it what I think it is?" Master Allman rose from the chair near the door where he waited unobtrusively.

"Believed what? Master Eldridge. What is it, Master Allman?"

"The Ancestors' Stone," breathed Allman. He joined the two for a closer look.

"It is something shared only between the Talent Stone Guardians," began Eldridge, indicating himself and Master Allman. "The legend of the Ancestors' Stone has been passed down for generations. As it was told to me...." Eldridge stared at the bright blue stone that pulsed with light. He shook his head to clear it and continued, "Travellers from another place, another galaxy it was said, lived among us for a while. One day, they simply vanished, taking all of their possession, save a stone found beneath a bed, and, it was later discovered, two mother-to-be. They could not agree which of their offspring was to have the stone, so the Guardian at that time placed it in with the Talent Stones. The stone would recognize one of its own, she said. It never recognized either of those children, nor any of their children, and so on. Until now."

"Oh, no! No, no, no!" exclaimed Evan. "I'm not an alien. What will people say? They'll think I'm a freak. I'll be sent away, for experiments."

Master Eldridge frowned. Evan had grasped matters very quickly. Things were different in this day and age. He had no wish for the authorities to get hold of Evan and whisk him away, for it would be impossible to keep this hidden for long.

"How do I turn it off?" To Evan's surprise, the stone resumed its dull steel-blue color. "Hmm. On. Off. On. Off," he ordered. It blinked in the two shades of blue, as if Evan had pressed a physical switch. "A mind-controlled compass. Cool! There's more." He turned it on again and recited two strings of numbers. "I think I've just given you the...the...," he thought back to last month's geography lessons, "the latitude and longitude of where I am."

"Listen to me, Evan." Eldridge made up his mind in a hurry. "I believe you are a descendant of those Travellers, or Ancestors as they were sometimes referred to. Therefore you must say nothing of this to anyone, not even your parents. I, too, will say nothing. Neither will Master Allman. You will need to keep that stone hidden away and so I will allow something that has never been permitted. You are to choose another Talent Stone, one that you can show off to your family and friends."

"But will I even get another talent?"

The Guardian of the Talent Stones shrugged; he had no idea. "Choose, quickly." 

After thinking 'off' at it, Evan slipped the Ancestors stone into his pocket and thrust his right hand back into the bowl of Talent Stones. Without thinking, he pulled out the first one his fingers wrapped around. "Here. I have no idea what this one is. It just feels like a pebble."

Eldridge took the stone from Evan. "That's my job." This was an easy one to identify. "Your Talent is that of having an _always available parking place_."

"That's a real Talent?" Evan burst out laughing. Every year any number of the kids who'd turned thirteen hoped that would be their Talent. He couldn't wait to see Roman's expression when he learned of Evan's Talent. The brown and gold stone fitted perfectly into his bracelet. 

"Go now, and remember, tell nobody until the time is right. You will know."

Evan nodded; he didn't know what else to say. Master Allman led him to the door. "Go now and complete the ritual."

He pushed all thoughts of the Ancestors' Stone to the back of his mind, after firmly switching it 'off' again. "In three years' time I'll have no trouble parking my car!" he announced grandly, watching Mikey's face fall, and Roman's scowl deepen. He vigorously shook everyone's hand as he suddenly realized he actually had the mythical perfect parking Talent.

"So what's your Talent, Roman?" he demanded. Nobody would call him a mouse any more.

"He's never going to burn the toast!" the others eagerly filled him in. "He'll be invited to every campfire, and all the aunts and grandmothers will love him. You can picture it now -- perfectly done crumpets every time!"

To Evan's relief, nobody commented on how long he'd been choosing his stone, especially when Mikey reappeared, less than two minutes after he'd stepped through the doorway.

"I've got 'perfect posture'," said Mikey bemusedly. "It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but Master Allman says I'll never complain of back pain."

"You could be a model, like me," suggested Jennice, when the final round of hand-shaking was finished. "You'll always look good in pictures and stuff."

"A model, eh? They make lots of money, don't they?" Mikey looked more cheerful.

"It's time to leave. Your families will be waiting." Master Allman herded the eight new Talents to the door. He pulled Evan to one side. "Good luck, Evan. I repeat master Eldridge's words. You will know when the time is right to share what you are, what you can do. I would suggest you study hard at Math and Science. Think about a career in the Space program. Our blessings go with you."

Evan wrinkled his nose. He wanted to be an artist, but he promised to keep Master Allman's advice in mind. Meanwhile, he had three years to wait before he could legally use his other new Talent.

Epilogue: Naturally Evan ends up in the Stargate Program, thanks to his ATA gene. Roman becomes a TV chef. Alish becomes a successful tattoo artist much sort after by celebrities, as her ink never runs. Jennice and Mikey do model for a while, but Mikey he didn't like the hours and ends up as a personal trainer. Darwin becomes an engineer. Berta made the basketball team and Laurel read her way through the library.

END


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